The present invention disclosed herein relates to an optical source generator, and more particularly, to a multi-wavelength optical source generator generating lights having a plurality of wavelengths sequentially or simultaneously.
Recently, as broadband internet and various multimedia services appear, a variety of techniques to provide mass information to users are in progress. Especially, diverse optical source devices are being developed to transmit information through optical fibers.
A multi-wavelength optical source generator is an optical source generator generating lights having a plurality of wavelengths sequentially or simultaneously. The multi-wavelength optical generator is mainly used in a Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) optical system. Typically, an optical source generator comprises semiconductor materials (Group III-V materials) and amorphous silicon (hereinafter, referred to as a-Si). Light is generated after current is injected into a semiconductor material. The a-Si provides functions (such as guiding, wavelength selecting, and combining) with respect to the light that the semiconductor material generates. Moreover, the multi-wavelength optical source may be realized through the monolithic integration of a semiconductor material and a-Si.
A typical optical source generator may be formed with the monolithic integration of a semiconductor optical gain medium, an Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG), and a-Si. Additionally, instead of the AWG, a Concave Grating (CG) may be used for the typical optical source generator.
An operating wavelength of a monolithic integration type optical source device including a demultiplexer such as AWG and CG may be selected by adjusting a diffraction condition such as a diffraction order and a diffraction cycle. Additionally, the monolithic integration type optical source device including a demultiplexer may be easily realized only with patterning and etching through a lithography process. However, due the long length of a cavity, applications of the monolithic integration optical source device are limited.